As a result of attending this session, participants should be able to:

• Identify and trace differences between the Lacanian Big Other, the Freudian Superego, and what Lacan calls the symbolic network and discuss how this is manifest in the clinic.
• Reconstruct the place of what Lacan calls the objet a, or the object cause of desire, within the psychoanalytic conception of political ideology and illustrate the concept using examples from the movie.
• Discuss dreamwork in its double meaning of how dreams are constructed/perceived by the dreamer and interpreting psychotherapist.

Bibliography:

Lacan, J. (2023). “On Pascal’s Wager”, From an Other to the other, Book XVI. Polity.

McGowan, T. (2017) “Distance and Proximity”, Only A Joke Can Save Us, Northwestern University Press: Diaeresis.

Pfaller, R. (2017) “Little Gestures of Disappearance: Interpassivity and the Theory of the Ritual”, Interpassivity: The Aesthetics of Delegated Enjoyment, Edinburgh University Press.

Zunpančič, A. (2024) “Conceptual Niceties”, Disavowal, Polity: Theory Redux.

Program Coordinators:

Thomas Brod, MD, Apurva Shah, MD and Mary Starks, MA, LPCC

Discussants:

Seth Alt, PhD is an independent cultural theorist and interdisciplinary researcher who explores the intersections of museums, digital technology, and audience studies. He holds a PhD in Cultural Studies from Claremont Graduate University, with a dissertation titled, “The Pervert’s Guide to the Museum.” In 2025, Seth published with Oxford University Press inside their forthcoming volume, Videogames For Mental Health. Seth has curatorial and archival experience from working for both The Autry Museum of the American West and the California Botanic Garden. He is a member and the current delegate of the California Forum of the Lacanian Field— the west coast anglophone chapter of the international school of Lacanian psychoanalysis in Paris.

Joseph Aguayo, PhD is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of California in West Los Angeles. He is a Guest Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society in London and holds UC LA doctorates in both Clinical Psychology and European History. He specializes in publishing in Bionian and Kleinian studies. His most recent projects are co-edited publications, including Wilfred Bion: Los Angeles Seminars and Supervision, (Karnac Books, 2013). 

IMPORTANT:

• This is online only. It will be held via Zoom.
• Pre-registration is required.
• Target audience: Mental health professionals and open to the public interested in psychoanalytic perspectives. Open to members and the community.
• Level: Every level. 
• 1.5 CE/CME credits offered.
• Signature is required for Continuing Education Credit. Zoom attendees must "sign" in and out at the beginning and end of the discussion in the Zoom Meeting Chat to receive credit.
• You will receive a confirmation and event-details message by email after registering. Contact Byrd at byrdb@n-c-p.org if you have questions.   

FEES:

$25 with CE Credit

$15 without Credit  

Free for NCP Psychoanalysts-in-Training and Students

CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDIT 

PHYSICIANS: This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and the New Center for Psychoanalysis. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME's identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.

PSYCHOLOGISTS: The New Center for Psychoanalysis is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The New Center for Psychoanalysis maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Psychologists must report CE credits directly to MCEP using the attendance certificate to verify attendance. Please note that a psychologist must attend the CE program in its entirety in order to receive credit.  

SOCIAL WORKERS, MARRIAGE and FAMILY THERAPISTS (LCSW, LMFT, ASW, IMF, LEP, LPCC, PCCI): The New Center for Psychoanalysis offers continuing education via the organizations listed above whose requirements meet the course content requirements set by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (see 16 CCR section 1887.4.0 for General CE Course Content Requirements). Acceptance of the CE credits for this activity is at the discretion of the licensing board.